Garrett Gerloff: ‘It’s my best result of the year, I hate saying that’

For the first time in 2022 Garrett Gerloff finished as the top Yamaha rider in a WorldSBK race, after the American also claimed his first top five result in what’s been a disappointing season to this point.

Robert Jones

11 Sep 2022

Garrett Gerloff, Yamaha WorldSBK Magny-Cours

Looking like a potential podium finisher following early spills for WorldSBK champion Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea in race one at Magny-Cours, Gerloff instead lost out to Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes during the closing stages.

The American, who has shown impressive speed all weekend, used a softer front tyre which seemed to hold him back from making an attack on the two riders ahead.

Fifth could have been sixth had it not been for an error heading into turn one by Michael Ruben Rinaldi, however, Gerloff held strong for his first top five finish of 2022.

Although Gerloff once again lost positions during the early laps, the Texan was back to being aggressive as he charged back through to pack, something we haven’t seen much of since his rookie season in 2020.

But despite the impressive performance and with it securing his best result of the year thus far, Gerloff couldn’t hide the fact he was disappointed not to have claimed a podium by this stage of the campaign.

Gerloff said: "It was nice to be top five in Superpole and then top five in the race. It’s my best of the year and I hate saying that because I was hoping that already we would be on the podium by now but it’s going the right way.

"I’ve felt good all weekend. As soon as we got here everything seems like it was working very well."

Razgatlioglu ‘bucking and bucking and bucking’ - says former WorldSBK runner-up Redding

With a front seat view to Rea and Razgatlioglu’s early falls, Redding had by far his best chance of winning a race since joining BMW.

And while a fight between Alvaro Bautista and himself looked to be on the cards, the ex-MotoGP rider had to instead settle for second after failing to match the consistency of the Spaniard.

Scott Redding, French WorldSBK race1, 10 September

Discussing his 'wild' race, Redding added: "It was a good day. I was really happy with the front row. In the race, I got a good start and I felt strong and I thought “let’s go” and let’s get stuck in from the start.

"And then it just went wild for a few laps. I think I took the lead at some point, and then Toprak came and passed me, and then Jonathan passed me, and then Jonathan crashed out … and I was pushing again to catch up Toprak.

"Then I looked ahead, and he was just bucking and bucking and bucking. Then I found myself in the lead, and I thought ‘stay calm, push, find your rhythm’. I did what I could.

"I had Alvaro catching me. I tried to fight with him for as long as possible. I did what I could but it was impossible."